Jarrod Elwell: MI ↝ ABCD ↝ AI ↝ CI = How Community Change Happens Along the Lines of Relationships at the Speed of Hope

Jarrod Elwell is the Community Development regional manager for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, serving Virginia and Washington D.C.

Strengths: Fairness, Love of Learning, Kindness, Spirituality, Hope

Record: March 31, 2026

Retired police lieutenant and positive psychology practitioner David Berez, MAPP, DRE joins us to discuss how we can transform trauma into a catalyst for growth. David shares his journey from a 20-year career in law enforcement—where "resilience" meant simply bouncing back—to his development of "Courageous Optimism," a framework that empowers first responders to become "anti-fragile" in the face of chaos. By blending the science of human flourishing with the gritty reality of police work, David illustrates how storytelling and vulnerability can break the stigma of silence and save lives.

David Berez’s VIA Strengths: Honesty | Kindness | Curiosity | Perspective | Social Intelligence

Audio Editor: Kyle Gross (https://kylegross.myportfolio.com)

Recorded: January 7, 2026

Becca Schusler: The Win-Win of Workplace Wellness

VIA Strengths: Gratitude | Learner | Hope | Forgiveness | Self-Regulation

Born in a struggle for justice (Horace Carter Fights the Klan), Atlantic Packaging works to build wellbeing (Atlantic Wellness) and a thriving planet (A New Earth Project)

Core Values: Connection, Nourishment, Purpose, Movement, Nature, Prevention

Vision: To establish health, in all of its dimensions, as the fundamental guiding principle that informs all of our decisions.

Mission: Health & well-being is the throughline connecting our employees, our business community, and the overall vision for our company.

Recorded: July 25, 2025

Maital Neta: Positivity Matters to Our Brains!

Professor of Psychology at UNL

CliftonStrengths: Empathy, Achiever, Responsibility, Relator, Learner  

Recorded: 7/23/2025

Josha Sietsma: The Nebraska Capitol is a Question Mark 

The Nebraska Capitol asks us to respond to a series of profound questions:

What does it mean to live a good life? 

How best to live a good life to the fullest together and transmit that wisdom to future generations in ways that expand that fullness?

www.21panels.org

Recorded: July 17, 2025

Meghan Talarowski

Founder and Executive Director, Studio Ludo
A finding a the study that Meghan draws on to inform her playground designs: “Play builds grit, prevents burnout, ignites joy through movement, and helps us become better people together.“ 

Carlos Garcia

Co-Founder & CEO, True Progress Lab

VIA Strengths: Honest | Perseverance | Hope | Humility | Spirituality

Recorded on July 11, 2025

Tracy Edgerton: Leveraging Our Unique Strengths to Achieve a Shared Vision

President & CEO, Lincoln Community Foundation

Lincoln Vital Signs | Prosper Lincoln

CliftonStrengths: Learner | Input | Intellection | Developer | Achiever

Recorded: July 1, 2025

Zoya Awan - Creating Sparks of Hope

Director of Public Affairs, Walmart

Zoya the Explorer!

CliftonStrengths: Positivity | WOO | Includer | Adaptability | Connectedness

Recorded: July 9, 2025

Andrew Hanna - Emerging Leadership, Life Design, & More

Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln 

Prof. Hanna spoke at Nebraska's International Day of Hope celebration.

CliftonStrengths: Woo | Relator | Input | Positivity | Futuristic

Recorded: June 25, 2025

Brought to you by Positivity Matters!

Kathryn Goetzke - How to S.H.I.N.E. Hope

• Stress skills

• Happiness habits

• Inspired actions

• Nourishing networks

• Eliminating challenges

Kathryn's top VIA Strengths: Curiosity | Love of learning | Spirituality | Honesty | Fairness

Recorded 6/19/2025

Rebecca Davis - Dimensions of Connectedness (Social Capital & Social Health)

Director & Producer

Rebecca speaks on the community engagement she has generated around the country with the documentary, Join or Die, and we also explore themes of wellbeing present in the film.  

Recorded 6/5/2025

Dele Davies, MD, Interim Chancellor at University of Nebraska Medical Center

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) = (Personal Competence = Self Awareness x Self-Management) x (Social Competence = Social Awareness x Relationship Management)

CliftonStrengths: Significance | Futuristic | Focus | Maximizer | Strategic | Learner | Achiever | Responsibility | Belief 

Recorded: January 8, 2026

Rob Lion - Black River

C.A.R. from Self-determination Theory:

• Competence

• Autonomy

• Relatedness

Recorded 2/18/2025

Joshua created Econic to partner with leaders who envision a better world and desire someone to help them build it.

Joshua’s CliftonStrengths: Strategic | Maximizer | Ideation | Futuristic | Individualization

Recorded: 2/15/2025

Dan Martin

VIA Strengths: Humor | Creativity | Love of Learning | Curiosity | Bravery

Associate Professor of Management at California State University, East Bay.

Director of Corporate Compassion Education at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University.

Recorded 2/4/2025

David B. Feldman, PhD, is a clinical health psychologist and Professor of Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University. 

Prof. Feldman's top VIA strengths: Love of learning | Curiosity | Hope | Judgement | Kindness

Hope science developed in a playful laboratory. Hope develops in the playful laboratory of the imagination.

Recorded May 7, 2025

Chan Hellman

Founding Director of the Hope Research CenterHope Rising USA

Recorded 4/29/2025

Matthew W. Gallagher, Ph.D.

Updates in Hope Science

Recorded 4/18/2025

Lorraine Besser

Ready to Live Your Best Possible Life?

Recorded 3/14/2025

Shigehiro Oishi

What’s the real key to a fulfilling life?Recorded 3/12/2025

Omani (formerly Ron) Carson is the founder of the Carson Group and Omya. Omani shares about purpose, kindness, strengths, community, and more!

Recorded 1/22/2025

Prof. Steger is the director of the Center for Meaning and Purpose at Colorado State University.

Recorded 12/2/2024

Grant Stonebraker: Building a Pay-It-Forward Culture

Speaker, coach, and author Grant Stonebraker shares how his signature strengths of honesty, kindness, and love fuel both his entrepreneurial work and his grassroots kindness movement, Operation: Pay It Forward. Grant discusses how spirituality and creativity guide his approach to building authentic connections and inspiring others to make progress through simple, intentional acts of goodness. This conversation offers practical wisdom for anyone seeking to live their values and spark positive change in their community.

A visualization of the aggregated VIA Strengths of people who have been guests on the podcast after adding Grant’s top VIA Strengths: Honesty | Kindness | Love | Spirituality | Creativity

Audio Editor: Kyle Gross (https://kylegross.myportfolio.com/)

Recorded on: 11/20/2025

Rose Liesveld: Building a Strengths-Based Law School

Rose’s CliftonStrengths: Futuristic | Activator | Significance | Relator | Command | Belief | Focus | Maximizer | Communication | Self-Assurance

Recorded: 11/25/2024

Carol Graham is a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at Brookings, a College Park Professor at the University of Maryland, and a senior scientist at Gallup.

In this episode, we discuss her most recent book, The Power of Hope, and she kindly reflects with us on our H.A.P.P.Y. L.I.F.E. meta-model of wellbeing models:

Recorded: 2024-11-13

Meet Roger DeWitt and AI Coach Roger

Roger’s Masters capstone: ADHD, Willpower, and Interest: A Positive Approach

Roger’s top 5 VIA strengths: Perspective | Humor | Kindness | Love | Social Intelligence 

Recorded: 9/4/2024

Guest: David Lay Williams is professor of political science at DePaul University and author of The Greatest of All Plagues: How Economic Inequality Shaped Political Thought from Plato to Marx

Prof. Williams’ top five VIA Strengths: Perseverance | Love of Learning | Judgment | Curiosity | Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence

Prof Williams and I converse about the nature and harm of economic inequality, wellbeing, friendship, and much more. 

This episode is dedicated to the memory of T.K. Seung

Recorded: August 30, 2024

Guest: Prof. Tim Hodges, Executive Director of the Clifton Strengths Institute and Assistant Professor of Practice in Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Prof. Hodges' top Gallup strengths: Maximizer | Relator | Belief | Woo | Positivity

Recorded: June 19, 2024

Guest: Professor Isaac Prilleltensky, Director of the Community Leadership Doctoral Program at the University of Miami

www.professorisaac.com

Pillars of wellbeing and drivers of change:

www.funforwellness.com

Recorded: 6/7/2024

Guest: Bruce Smith, Associate Professor of Psychology at The University of New Mexico  

Move from Surviving to Thriving: The Positive Psychology Workbook for Challenging Times

https://shac.unm.edu/resources/counseling-resources/positive-psychology-workbook.html

Prof. Smith’s top VIA strengths: Authenticity, Leadership, Creativity, Love, Spirituality

VIA Inventory of Character Strengths: www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter

Recorded: May 29, 2024

Guest: Cormac Russell, Co-Author of The Connected Community: Discovering the Health, Wealth, and Power of Neighborhoods

Recorded: May 23, 2024

Guest: Kimberly Rath, Chairman and Co-Founder of Talent Plus and Co-Author of Near, Now, Next

VIA Strengths:

Fairness | Honesty | Kindness | Teamwork | Forgiveness

Core Values:

Integrity | Kindness | Positivity | Love | Belonging

Vision:

“My goal is to inspire and empower individuals and unlock their potentiality and achieve personal and professional collective joy to create a better world.” 

Recorded: May 1, 2024

Guest: Dr. Eri Mountbatten-O'Malley, Senior Lecturer in Education at Bath Spa University. 

Eri's strengths: Humor | Creativity | Fairness | Curiosity | Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence

Recorded: 4/24/2024

Forthcoming Book - Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Analysis

Jacob Kendall: Curiosity, Creativity, and Rethinking How We Grow Older

Dr. Jacob Kendall—gerontologist, social worker, and two-time open-heart surgery survivor—joins us to share a fresh lens for understanding health across place, and time. Drawing on his signature strengths of creativity, curiosity, and humor, Jacob challenges one-dimensional thinking about aging and advocates for a pro-aging mindset grounded in fairness and forgiveness. This conversation will transform how you think about growing older—and inspire you to approach life's challenges with both scientific rigor and deep humanity.

A visualization of the aggregated VIA Strengths of people who have been guests on the podcast after adding Jacob’s top VIA Strengths: Creativity | Fairness | Curiosity | Humor | Forgiveness

Audio Editor: Kyle Gross (https://kylegross.myportfolio.com/)Recorded on: 11/19/2025

Guest: Ryan Wieber, Director, Lincoln City Libraries

Ryan’s strengths: Arranger | Futuristic | Learner | Responsibility | Strategic

Recorded: 3/29/2024

Guest: Dr. Gustavo Carlo, Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. 

Gus and I explore the idea that there may exist at least three kinds of kindness. The following are the kinds of kindness discussed and an example of each:

Playful:  host a block party.

Compassionate: become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). 

Generative: become a mentor.

Gus’s Strengths: Curiosity | Teamwork | Love | Judgment | Perspective

Discover your strengths and use them for kindness: ⁠www.viacharacter.org

Recorded: 1/22/2024

Guest: Corey Keyes, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Emory University

Recorded: 1/12/2024

Languishing: How to Feel Alive Again in a World That Wears Us Down

By Dr. Corey Keyes 

Publication date: February 20, 2024

www.languishingbook.com

Adam Grant’s article from the NY Times discussed in this episode:

There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing
https://tiny.cc/languishing

Richard DienstbierProfessor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Nebraska-LincolnRecorded: 1/1/2024

Building Resistance to Stress and Aging: The Toughness Model

by Richard A, Dienstbier

"As we engage in toughening activities, physiological toughness develops in response to various genes being turned on or off—sometimes temporarily, but sometimes for a lifetime. Those physiological events lead to modifications of our neurochemistry and the development of various neurons and structures within our brains. As we become physiologically tougher, those modifications lead, in turn, to positive psychological and mental outcomes that include emotional stability, enhanced energy, more efficient cognitive functions, fluid intelligence, and even self-control... Once toughness begins to develop, the experience of enhanced mental and physical energy, and of sustained mental abilities, allows us to optimistically approach life’s various challenges. Confronting those challenges toughens us even more. Thus once we begin to toughen we experience an upward spiral where toughness leads to choices that in turn continue to toughen us."

Leo Louis II: Identity Formation, Community Building, and Cultural Transformation

Leo recently co-authored the book: The Grownfolks and the Magic Wand

Recorded: November 14, 2025

Lakesha Green: Speaking Love into Community through the Arts and Vision

Lakesha is the Executive Director of the Union for Contemporary Art

CliftonStrengths: Self-Assurance | Learner | Input | Arranger | Strategic

Recorded: October 30, 2025

Amy Goodburn: Building the Good Life with Husker P.O.W.E.R. 

Senior Associate Vice Chancellor & Dean of Undergraduate Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

CliftonStrengths: Learner | Achiever | Input | Discipline | Arranger

Recorded: September 10, 2025

P.O.W.E.R. = Purpose, Ownership, Well-being, Engagement, and Relationships

From the Inter-association Wellbeing Collaborative:

We define well-being as an optimal and dynamic state that allows people to achieve their full potential. Our focus is on two interdependent types of well-being: 1) individual and 2) community.

Amy Lanham: Creating Wellbeing Through Recreation

Campus Recreation Director, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

CliftonStrengths: Responsibility | Communication | Developer | Relator | Belief

Recorded: September 3, 2025

From the Inter-association Wellbeing Collaborative:

We define well-being as an optimal and dynamic state that allows people to achieve their full potential. Our focus is on two interdependent types of well-being: 1) individual and 2) community.

Daryl Davis: How to be Prohuman with Music and Friendship

Recorded 8/7/2025